Emergency Hiring Plan (EHP) in Kenya: Equal opportunity for health workers?

PURPOSE: Kenya's human resources crisis includes health worker shortages, low productivity and inequitable worker distribution. Lengthy hiring practices and lack of decentralized hiring processes—to provincial/district levels—resulted in 6-8-month delays. In 2005, the USAID-funded Capacity Project implemented the EHP to address workforce shortages and improve recruitment transparency. Workers were hired on short-term contracts to underserved facilities in high HIV-prevalence areas.

INFORMATION USED/METHODS: A recruitment/deployment plan identified priority geographic areas/facilities and developed eligibility criteria, job descriptions, service terms and a payroll database to provide timely salary disbursements and track new hires. To improve transparency, vacancy announcements detailing location, remuneration and service terms were published, as were candidate shortlists. An induction program was developed to orient/support new hires and focused on improving quality of HIV/AIDS services.

RESULTS

Successes: • From 2005-2007, 849 new hires recruited with a 91% retention rate • Pool of unemployed health workers decreased: of short-listed candidates, 46% were unemployed. • New hires regarded selection as transparent • Hiring process decentralization enabled health workers to apply for vacancies near home, improving retention • 819 new hires successfully trained in an HIV area (e.g. HIV/AIDS home-based care)

Challenges: • Ensuring ongoing implementation of induction program • Workers leaving faith-based organization facilities to join the EHP • Government HR processes remain inefficient

RECOMMENDATIONS: Although transparency and short-term efficiency improved, sustainability issues remain—the government indicated it would absorb the new hires but as of February 2010 few have contracts. Challenges continue on how to permanently improve the government's hiring/deployment system.